A man has been sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to actual bodily harm against his former girlfriend.
Nicholas Fullen, 25, had been staying with his then-partner, Jordan Steadman, 26, at the Britannia Hotel in Stockport on December 3 last year when he had become physically abusive towards her.
Recorder Jeremy Lasker, presiding over the case, told the court how Fullen, who was described as a heavy user of drugs and alcohol, had been drinking in his hotel room with Ms Steadman, when they had begun to argue.
After a negative remark about his sexual prowess, Mr Fullen had proceeded to violently attack her.
“You dragged her round the room by her hair, threw her across the bed and put your hands on her mouth,” Mr Lasker said.
“I have no doubt that this relationship was abusive.”
After a brief period of calming down, the pair decided to go out into town.
By the time they had reached Fullen’s car, the pair had begun to argue again, after he had grown angry over another man looking at her as she had passed by.
As they got into the car, Fullen began to attack Ms. Steadman once more. In a statement to police, Ms Steadman described how, “It just started again, it blew up. He backhanded me a couple of times.”
Fullen proceeded to hit his former partner on the face and chest, before attempting to intimidate her by grabbing her crotch area.
The court heard how he had threatened to run over Ms Steadman with his car if she tried to leave.
“This shows how out of control you were,” Mr Lasker said.
“At one point Ms Steadman’s mother tried to call her, and you took the phone and snapped it in two.
“You then began punching her in the head, knowing that she had had a previous operation and was terrified that a blow could kill her.”
When first questioned about in the incident by police, Fullen claimed that Ms Steadman’s bruises had been caused by her punching herself, but after being informed that there were witnesses to the incident, as well as CCTV in the car park, he claimed that he had been set up.
After initially entering a not guilty plea, Fullen pleaded guilty to the charge of actual bodily harm against his ex-girlfriend.
He was sentenced to 18 months in prison, of which he will serve half, and an indefinite restraining order has been made against him.
